The First Jews of Ancient Greece | The Long History of the Jews of Greece | Dr Katherine Aron-Beller

The first Jews reached Greece in the early Hellenistic period as entrepreneurs, tempted by the possibilities of trade, military activity and other opportunities. They established themselves quickly into communities which resembled each other, with similar institutions uniting them. In the next few centuries, a steady stream of Jewish emigrants arrived from Judaea to the cities of the Greek diaspora. We will discuss how it was possible for Jews to dwell in cities “not their own” and what their strategies were for coping with, accepting and participating in Greek life without losing their identities.
Greek-Jewish relations present the oldest continuous inter-ethnic relationship in history, lasting as it does over three millennia. The story begins with the encounter of the Jews with Hellens and Hellenism, proceeds with the ever-growing Jewish presence in mainland Greece and the islands, through Roman, Rhomanian (often called Byzantine), and Ottoman times, and subsequently the Holocaust, when most of Greek Jews - Rhomaniote or Sephardic - were annihilated. This series will follow the history of Jewish presence in Greece from the beginning until modern times.
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